In the early 1990s, experiments were carried out secretly in Japan. Two different methods were used in the experiments. One method involved forcing stress upon expecting parents and when the baby was born, provoke the baby into mutations and develop their special abilities. The other method involved birth to babies having abilities of animals and insects. The special abilities were derived from gene manipulation. Subaru, Saya and others were born from those experiments.
Ken Kaneki (Masataka Kubota) is a university student. He becomes injured by Rize, a human eating ghoul. Ken is saved from the ghoul when a steel frame falls on Rize. They are both sent to the hospital. Ken receives an organ transplant from Rize and becomes a half ghoul.